joplin-mcp

Joplin MCP Server

A FastMCP-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Joplin note-taking application via its Python API joppy, enabling AI assistants to interact with your Joplin notes, notebooks, and tags through a standardized interface.

Table of Contents

• What You Can Do
• Quick Start
• Supported Clients
• Example Usage
• Tool Permissions
• Advanced Configuration
• Docker
• Project Structure
• Testing
• Complete Tool Reference
• Changelog

What You Can Do

This MCP server provides 25 optimized tools for comprehensive Joplin integration:

Note Management

• Find & Search: find_notes (supports trash=True for trashed notes), find_notes_with_tag, find_notes_in_notebook, get_all_notes
• CRUD Operations: get_note, get_links, create_note, update_note, edit_note, delete_note

Notebook Management

• Organize: list_notebooks, create_notebook, update_notebook, delete_notebook

Tag Management

• Categorize: list_tags, create_tag, update_tag, delete_tag, get_tags_by_note
• Link: tag_note, untag_note

Trash Management

• Recover: restore_from_trash - Restore soft-deleted notes or notebooks

Import

• File Import: import_from_file - Import Markdown, HTML, CSV, TXT, JEX files and directories

System

• Health: ping_joplin

Quick Start

1. Open Joplin Desktop → Tools → Options → Web Clipper
2. Enable the Web Clipper service
3. Copy the Authorization token
4. Set up your preferred client below

Supported Clients

Any MCP-compatible client should work. Below are the ones with documented setup instructions.

Claude Desktop

Run the automated installer:

# Install and configure everything automatically (pip)
pip install joplin-mcp
joplin-mcp-install

# Or use zero-install with uvx (recommended if you have uv)
uvx --from joplin-mcp joplin-mcp-install

# Optional: pin a specific version/range for stability
uvx --from joplin-mcp==0.4.1 joplin-mcp-install
uvx --from 'joplin-mcp>=0.4,<0.5' joplin-mcp-install

This script will:

• Configure your Joplin API token
• Set tool permissions (Create/Update/Delete)
• Set up Claude Desktop automatically
• Test the connection

After setup, restart Claude Desktop and you're ready to go!

Claude Code

Install the orchestration plugin for smarter tool usage (edit vs update, long-note reading, bulk tagging):

/plugin marketplace add alondmnt/joplin-mcp
/plugin install joplin-mcp

You'll be prompted for your Joplin API token on first use. The skill is invoked automatically when working with Joplin tools, or manually with /joplin.

Jan AI

1. Install Jan AI from https://jan.ai

2. Add MCP Server in Jan's interface:

   • Open Jan AI
   • Go to Settings → Extensions → Model Context Protocol
   • Click Add MCP Server
   • Configure:
     • Name: joplin
     • Command: uvx --from joplin-mcp joplin-mcp-server (requires uv installed)
     • Environment Variables:
       • JOPLIN_TOKEN: your_joplin_api_token_here
   • Enable the server

3. Start chatting with access to your Joplin notes!

Automated Setup (Alternative)

# Install and configure Jan AI automatically (if Jan is already installed)
pip install joplin-mcp
joplin-mcp-install

This will detect and configure Jan AI automatically, just like Claude Desktop.

OllMCP (Local Ollama Models)

Auto-discovery (if you set up Claude Desktop first)

# Install ollmcp
pip install ollmcp

# Run with auto-discovery (requires existing Claude Desktop config)
ollmcp --auto-discovery --model qwen3:4b

Manual setup (works independently)

# Install ollmcp
pip install ollmcp

# Set environment variable
export JOPLIN_TOKEN="your_joplin_api_token_here"

# Run with uvx (requires uv installed)
ollmcp --server "joplin:uvx --from joplin-mcp joplin-mcp-server" --model qwen3:4b

# Or with an installed package (pip install joplin-mcp)
ollmcp --server "joplin:joplin-mcp-server" --model qwen3:4b

Example Usage

Once configured, you can ask your AI assistant:

• "List all my notebooks" - See your Joplin organization
• "Find notes about Python programming" - Search your knowledge base
• "Create a meeting note for today's standup" - Quick note creation
• "Tag my recent AI notes as 'important'" - Organize with tags
• "Show me my todos" - Find task items with find_notes(task=True)

Tool Permissions

The setup script offers 4 permission levels: